Confession time.

Man, I'm been bored with this off-season. More than bored, sort of disappointed. It's been tough. It's hard to get excited about signing yet another relief pitcher. Yay, we signed Omar Visquel? Wow, Alex traded for Jeff Mathis. Really? Jeff Mathis? That's who we trade for?

The last couple of off-seasons have been fun. There seemed to be magic. Well, maybe trading away Doc wasn't magic, but it got us interested in the prospects and the future of the team. Soon after that Alex traded a middle reliever and a middling prospect for Brandon Morrow.

Then, last year, Alex moved the contract of Vernon Wells. If that wasn't magic, nothing else is. That was making the Statue of Liberty disappear type magic. It's the type of move that makes it look like the other GM's are going around asking 'is this your card?'. Then Alex traded for Brett Lawrie. He gave up one of my favorite players, but, come on, we got Brett Lawrie.

It seemed like Alex could do magic.

This winter? Not so much.

And I know the problem. Like Jesse pointed out, in a post last year, it is easier to go from a 1-win player to a 3-win player then it is to go from a 3-win player to a 5-win player. There aren't that many 5-win players out there, and other GM's don't want to give them away. That's why we like trades for guys like Colby Rasmus. He could be that 5-win player. He might not turn out to be, if he was a sure thing, we wouldn't have been able to trade a couple of middle relievers for him, but he could be.

It is tough. I knew, going into the off-season, that we weren't going to sign someone like Fielder to a 10-year contract, when he'd only give you value on it for the first 4 or 5 years. I did let myself get hopeful over Yu Darvish. Mostly, I was hopeful that Alex saw something in him that would make him worth $100 million plus. I can't argue that he is worth the money. Alex saw him, not me.

I just figured something would happen.

That's not to say I don't like our team, I know we are better this year. We are that much closer to where we want to be. We look to have a reasonable lineup and there's no Corey Patterson or Jayson Nix or Juan Rivera lurking. The starting rotation doesn't have a Jo-Jo Reyes or a Carlos Villanueva in it. I like what Alex has done with the bullpen. I'm sure we'll enjoy Sergio Santos more than Frankie and Rauch (though we'll miss the fun of Rauch making the 6'4" John Farrell seem like a little man). It will be an exciting season.

I'm just bored of the off-season. And I didn't expect to be. I expected Alex to keep me entertained. You let me down, Alex.

Oh well, 10 days until the first spring training game. Let's play ball.

Continuing through out list. If you want to see the previous write ups here are the links 46-50, 41-45, 36-40, 31-35, 26-30 and 21-25.

20. Marcus Knecht: Marcus was number 27 on our list last year. Our 3rd round pick from 2010, born in Toronto moved up from Auburn to Lansing this year and had a really good season, hitting .273/.377/.474 with 16 home runs and 86 RBI. That's the good news, the bad news is he had a slump in the second half of the season, hitting just .228/.346/.417 and just .200 in August. I'm not sure if there was a minor injury or something else that caused the slump but he struck out more in the second half, 31% of at bats ended in strikeouts, after 26% in the first half. He's got good power and a good eye at the plate, but he's going to have to cut back on the strikeouts to have a keep a decent batting average as he moves up the ladder. A right-handed batter, he's just 21, it would be nice to see him start the year at Dunedin and move up from there. Defense isn't his strong suit, he does run well enough and has decent arm, so he should be able to be improve to the point where he is at least an average LFer.

19. Joel Carreno: We all got a chance to see Joel last year, and he looked great in our bullpen, with a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 major league innings. I figured he earned a spot on the team this year, but Alex has added a bunch of arms to the pen, so Joel will likely start the year in the minors. But then there are always injuries, so I'm sure we'll see him at some point this year. Before the call up, Joel made 23 starts in New Hampshire, with a 3.41 ERA. He struck out 10.2/9 innings while allowing just 6.7 hits/9. He did allow too many walks, 4..5/9 but that was unusual for Joel, in his minor league career he's averaged 2.9 walks/9. He is basically a two pitch pitcher throwing a low 90's fastball and a good slider, so the bullpen is likely the place for him and, if he can keep the walks down, he could end up a closer someday. Carreno was 35th on out list last year.

18. Asher Wojcieshowski: Asher was a first round supplemental pick in 2010. We had him 13th on our list last year. He didn't have a great first full season in pro ball, but really more it was an up and down year. He made 4 starts in April with a 0.87 ERA and then was awful for May and June, with a 7.76 ERA in 11 starts, but he righted the ship again, going 7-2 over the last 3 months of the season with a 3.18 ERA. It would be nice if he struck out more batters, he only got 6.6 K/9 this year, but his fastball can hit mid-90's, he has a good slider and is (like every pitcher in the Jays system) working on a changeup. And he threw strikes, walking just 2.1/9.He turned 23 in December, so he was a little old for Dunedin, but he'll likely move a long quickly, now that he's got a year in the Jay's minor league system under his belt. He's a big RHP, 6'4", 235 and sometimes he takes bigger guys a little bit longer to figure how to keep their delivery consistent.

17. Matt Dean: Dean fell to the 13th round, where the Jays picked him, because he was committed to the University of the Texas. A $737,500 signing bonus convinced him to drop that commitment. He signed too late to get in any playing time. Matt turned 19 in December. He played short in high school but he'll be a third baseman in the pros. He's good power, should hit for a good average, but will have to work on plate discipline Just like any high school draft pick. He's a big guy, 6'3", 190.

16. Dwight Smith, Jr: Another supplemental first round pick from last year, out of school in Georgia. Dwight Smith, Sr was a journeyman outfielder in the majors. This Dwight is also a left-handed batter, thought to be similar to his dad, a little better hitter at the same age and hopefully he'll have a little better career. He'll end up a corner outfielder. The term 'power to all fields' comes up a lot. Again, getting to see him play in the minors will help us figure where to put him on the list next year.

I've asked the other AL East bloggers to write us up a preview of their team for 2012, let us know their team's additions and subtractions as well as a feeling for how their team will do this year.

We heard from the Yankees yesterday. Today Stacey from Camden Chat has been nice enough to stop by to tell us of the Orioles off-season:

Greetings, Blue Jays fans. I come to you in peace, one beaten down Orioles fan, to offer you hope that in your team's continued efforts to rise in the American League East, that they will once again not be hindered by the Orioles.

If you're familiar with The Dugout and their often hilarious portrayals of "Major League Baseball's Official Chat Room," there was one post in which a just-promoted-to-the-big-leagues Matt Wieters proclaimed, "I shall lead these Peoples to the promised land, also known as slightly ahead of the Blue Jays." Well, that obviously hasn't happened, and I wouldn't put money on it happening any time soon.

In August 2007, Andy MacPhail was hired to turn the sad, sad Baltimore Orioles around. He made a few good trades and tried to say all of the right things, but ultimately failed, leaving town this winter. Then began the circus that was finding his replacement. Some assistant GMs chose to stay with their current, less pathetic teams, others removed their names from consideration, and the Orioles ended up with Dan Duquette, a man who has been out of baseball for a decade.

Duquette's strategy this off-season has been...boring. He's done a decent job in building depth on the team, but he really hasn't done anything that would make them better. After the disappointing performance from the young starting pitchers the past few seasons, Duquette went for reinforcements. He signed Wey-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada as free agents out of the NPB. He traded some minor leaguers for Dana Eveland, and in what is really the only big move of the off-season, he traded staff veteran Jeremy Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies for Matt Lindstrom and Jason Hammel.

So what does that mean? Going into Spring Training Chen, Wada, Eveland, and Hammel will be competing for rotations spots with the underachieving Jake Arrieta, possibly injured Zach Britton, hot mess Brian Matusz, AAAA All-Star Chris Tillman, and, to a lesser extent, destined-for-the-bullpen guys Brad Bergesen and Alfredo Simon. Chen and Hammel are pretty much locks to make the rotation, leaving the disgraced youngsters and mediocre veterans to duke it out for the three remaining spots while the Orioles cross their fingers that at least one will be surprise us all.

As for the offense, it won't look too different than last year. Nolan Reimold will hopefully get a chance to play every day in left field while Adam Jones and Nick Markakis return to their places in center and right, respectively. Markakis had off-season surgery on his abdomen and while he claims he'll be ready for Opening Day, a delay in his recovery could move Reimold to right field and new backup Endy Chavez to left.

The reanimated corpse of Vladimir Guerrero has been replaced at designated hitter by Wilson Betemit, which can only be an improvement. The infield will remain the basically the same with Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy, Robert Andino, and Chris Davis around the horn. Everyone is hoping for a miracle that will see the concussed Brian Roberts ready to start the season, but considering he couldn't even attend FanFest a few weeks ago because of his sensitivity to light and sound, it's not looking good for the fan favorite. I will personally be surprised if Roberts starts another game as an Oriole. Truly a sad end to a good career.

Matt Wieters, the one player I'm really looking forward to seeing, will of course be the catcher and will continue to make me happy with his generally bad-assery behind the plate.

The bottom line is that the 2012 Orioles will probably not be much better than the 2011 Orioles. Dan Duquette made some moves that make sense on their own (Chavez gives the O's depth on the bench, Betemit is great against righties, etc.) but he did nothing to really improve the club to a position where they could climb out of the AL East cellar or post a winning season.

I've asked the other AL East bloggers to write us up a preview of their team for 2012, let us know their team's additions and subtractions as well as a feeling for how their team will do this year.

First up is Travis Goldman from Pinstripe Alley, SB Nation's New York Yankees' blog:

Who was lost: Jesus Montero, Hector Noesi, Bartolo Colon, Jorge Posada, A.J. Burnett?

Offseason recap: The biggest concern this offseason was merely retaining the services of CC Sabathia, who, using the threat of opting out of his contract, signed an extension mere hours before the deadline. After that, it was, if anything, to address the starting rotation. But come January it looked like the roster was set. Nary a rumor had been uttered about the Yanks all winter, even in regards to pitchers like C.J. Wilson and Yu Darvish. But then it all happened one night. Out of nowhere we learned that Jesus Montero had been traded for Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda had been signed. The rotation went from a weakness to a strength just like that [snaps fingers]; so much so that they're shopping A.J. Burnett, who's (a close) second to CC in starts for the Yanks since 2009.

2012 Predictions: The lineup will be virtually identical to 2011, save for the DH spot. Jorge Posada saw the most time there last season, but was replaced (way too late in most fans' opinions) in September by Montero. We'll now likely see a DH platoon of Andruw Jones (against LHP) and probably Raul Ibanez or Johnny Damon (against RHB).

A-Rod, who played just 99 games last year, had platelet-rich plasma therapy, so we'll see if that keeps him any healthier. I don't expect the same monster year from Curtis Granderson, but not a big drop off either. Cano is the most dependable hitter in the lineup. I see Teixeira having a bounce-back season after a sub-par 2011. Gardner, though not a great hitter, will force his way into the lineup via defense and baserunning. Swisher's in a contract year, Martin's now guaranteed to be the everyday catcher... Oh, and a guy named Jeter is still playing shortstop.

In 2011, with 60% of the rotation comprised of Burnett, Colon and Freddy Garcia, the club still managed to win 97 games, the most in the AL. Replace Garcia/Colon and Burnett with Pineda and Kuroda, and we're looking at the division winners by a comfortable margin (again), and maybe 100 wins.

Each year I think, 'this is the year the Jays are going to give Travis Snider 500 at bats so we can see what he can do without the sword of Damocles hanging over his hear' and every season they don't do it. Now I figure it is this year or never.

The guy is just 24 years old, it seems like he should be older because we've been talking about him forever, so there is still lots of time for him to have the career we were hoping he'd have, but if it is going to be with the Jays, it is going to have to start happening this year.

What I'd like is for him to win the starter's job out of spring training and for the Jays to tell him 'relax, the job is your's, we aren't going to worry about your numbers until we get 300 at bats in. Just go out and have fun'. That's what I'd like. In reality , it hasn't happened yet and I don't expect it to happen now. I really hoped that Farrell would be the one to have patience with him.

I've always thought that teams should be patient. Fans? We are impatient by nature, but teams should be able to take the long view. I mean, what was gained by giving Corey Patterson 317 at bats to show that he was he was, well, Corey Patterson. Corey didn't get on base any better than Travis (even with the lousy season Travis was having), he didn't slug any better and he played the outfield like someone that didn't want to be there.

Mike Cormack, over at Sportsnet.ca, has a story up about the changing relationship between the Jays and those of us that blog about them, and he quotes Andrew Stoeten from Drunk Jay Fans, Ian from Blue Jay Hunter and your humble host on the subject.

The Jays seem to be trying to be a little friendlier with us bloggers. I think it is a good thing, not that I want to be invited to the clubhouse or to sit in the press box. I'd like to keep a little distance from the players. I don't really want to know that certain players are great guys or that others punch cats in their spare time. I don't want their personalities to cloud my view. I don't want to be saying stupid things, like suggesting a player would make the team 10 games better because of how great he was in the clubhouse. I don't want to an amateur psychologist, trying to figure out if the players' personalities mesh. I don't care about that stuff, I care about what they do on the field.

And I wouldn't want to be writing pieces about their home life. How great they are to their kids/mothers/dogs. It doesn't interest me and the mainstream guys do those well. Nor do I care about writing about Josh Hamilton being at a bar. It isn't my concern and I wouldn't want to be writing about it. A lot of it seems like piling on or taking too much joy in someone else's troubles.

But then there are things I would like. I'd like the team to understand I'm not the enemy. We do a service for the team and I'd like them to understand that. I'd like to be included in press conferences and phone conferences. Right now, it is a bit hit and miss, sometimes they invite us to things, sometimes they don't. It would be nice if it were more consistent. I'd like them to occasionally make a front office person available for interview to us.

One thing they might try is,if they don't want us bloggers asking questions during press conferences, maybe they could do the odd phone chat for just bloggers. Let a handful of us bloggers ask questions of Alex or Tony LaCava or even Paul Beeston for that matter. Sure we might ask the odd dumb question, but I doubt we'll be worse than the mainstream guys.

It is nice that the Jays are giving bloggers some of their time now. I've joked before about trying to explain to the Jays PR folks who we are and what we do. Now, I know they know us, they ask us about our numbers and how we are doing. It is a step forward.

I know it is tough for the Jays to have to do the research on which blogs are worth their time and which ones aren't. And I know the easiest way for the PR people to get into trouble is by giving me some access and then watching me abuse it. All I can do is try to show that I'm an ok guy, that I'll be fair, that I won't rip the team just for the sake of it.

Here's one that is impossible to guess what he might do. I never figured he would pitch in the majors again. Just getting into some games last year was a great thing. This year we need him to do more than 'just pitch'.

Dustin was a first round draft pick back in 2000 and he was starting to put things together, as a major league starter, when the injuries started. He would get a good number of strikeouts, walk a few more than you might like but there was a lot of potential there. How much of it is left if an open question.

He looked to be throwing as hard as ever last year. I have no idea if he is more likely than the average pitcher to have more arm troubles, in the future. I imagine the Jays will be being very careful with him.

2011 was a long season for Brett Cecil. Right from the start of spring training, things weren't going well. Brett talked about a drop in velocity right from the word go. I still think that he let himself get too worried about it at the cost of focusing on what was really important. Bruce Walton made the point that the drop in velocity wasn't the main problem, the main problem, in his mind, was that there wasn't much difference in the speed of his fastball and his changeup.

We took a close look at his 2011 season back here. Here is a quick look at his numbers as a Jay: